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Richard Ravish

“There is no escape from the cycle.” – Richard Ravish, With Love from Salem

Like another recent documentary involving modern Pagans that I enjoyed, Alex Mar’s “American Mystic,” Karagan Griffith’s “With Love from Salem” is not an introduction or history lesson, but is instead a portrait of a belief system, a culture, in action. It follows Richard and Amy Ravish, Wiccan clergy who led rituals on Gallows Hill in Salem, Massachusetts for more than 20 years. While ostensibly about their Samhain ritual and procession on its 20th anniversary, what emerged to me on my viewing was surprisingly personal, an intimate look at the lives of two elders whose duty to Salem has become deeply intertwined with their faith, their friendships, and how they interact with community.

The mere mention of Salem, Massachusetts can be divisive within modern Pagan circles, with some Witches and Wiccans decrying the tourist-drawing Mardi Gras-like atmosphere around Halloween, and the Witches who have embraced that spirit of spooky fun as well. Yet, purposefully flamboyant Salem Witches like Laurie Cabot were instrumental in advancing tolerance and rights for Wicca and religious forms of modern Witchcraft. It was Cabot who founded the Temple of Nine Wells, “as a focus for worship and to facilitate a multi-traditional practice of the religion of Witchcraft in order to best serve the spiritual needs of the growing Wiccan community in Salem, Massachusetts.” A mission that was taken up by Amy and Richard as administrators of the temple. According to Amy “Gypsy” Ravish in the film, the ritual and procession at Samhain not only reminds people of the differences between Salem’s Halloween festivities and the religious observance of Samhain, it also gives an opportunity to those Pagan tourists who “can’t walk down the streets of their town, and say that they are Witches.” The tourism acts as a normalizing element, protective coloring for individuals across the country who see Salem as a pilgrimage.

“With Love from Salem” subtly shows you how Salem has woven its way into the modern Wiccan mind, but it’s as much a meditation on aging in the Craft as it is about honoring those killed on Gallows Hill. Richard Ravish passed away in 2012, and as such much of the talk about aging, ancestors, and the spirit of Samhain take on a deeper resonance. It shows Wicca as a faith that endures through the Winter of their lives, and one that continues to resonate for new generations of Witches. The handheld camera work by Griffith gives an impression of home movies, which actually adds to the intimacy, rather than detracts. It’s like watching footage of the elders in your own group or community, talking about their work, their devotion. It gives us outsiders a chance to be a fly on the wall as these two elders plan a community ritual.

Ultimately, “With Love from Salem” is a time capsule, a document of a couple who quietly served a community since the 1970s, a fixed point where seekers and the curious could experience Witchcraft in a “land of ghosts.” It is about mortality and remembrance, not just for the victims of the Salem Witch Trials, but for our own elders as they age and pass on. As Richard Ravish says towards the end of the film, “there is no escape from the cycle,” there is only our acceptance, and our honoring of its gifts. Director Karagan Griffith has done an admirable job of documenting one couple’s journey within that cycle.

“Salem is, on it’s own merit and historically so, a mark in American history. The year of 1692 was a time of suffering and injustice – 20 innocent people died at the hands of their accusers. Witchcraft was used as a definition and excuse for these trials. But what about now? How do witches today in Salem Massachusetts pay homage to these victims? The Temple of Nine Wells has been walking to Gallows Hill on Samhain night for more than 20 years to honor the dead and the victims of the witch hysteria of 1692. This documentary will walk you through this event, from preparation to ritual, as well as through the differences between Samhain and Halloween, the sacred and the profane. An inside perspective of Samhain night in Salem, and of the men and women who through dedication and personal commitment continue to make a difference. With love, from Salem.”

What motivated you to tell the story of Richard and Gypsy Ravish and the Temple of Nine Wells? What does their story tell us about them, about the Temple, and about Salem?

I have been a personal friend of Gypsy and Richard for quite some time. Since I met them I became fascinated by what they were doing, their commitment and passion for the Craft and those who practice it. I remember going to the first Temple of Nine Wells Ritual. It was in the Old Town Hall in Salem, and I thought that if public ritual was something to be done, then that was the way to do it. The documentary is precisely about that passion and commitment not only in an internal perspective of the Temple of Nine Wells but also in a more broad community sense. The idea of making the documentary came from the first time I attended to a Samhain ritual at Gallows Hill with the Temple of Nine Wells. The adherence of the people, the walk chanting up to Gallows Hill and the ritual itself, told me that this could not remain untold. I had to keep it and record it. I didn’t want to do just a recording of the ritual, so I thought that it would be a good idea to expand the recording to a documentary that would include their history/story but also the history/story of Salem and of the victims of the Witch-Hunters hysteria of 1692.

I think those of us outside of Salem often have a distorted picture of Witchcraft there. There’s so much media, especially around Samhain, that I think the lives and practices of the Salem Witches can get buried. As clergy who officiated a Samhain ritual for 20 years, what do you think the Ravishes teach us about the reality of Witchcraft in Salem?

Love is the word. I think that this is why I did this and they let me do it. Twenty years of Samhain rituals (and not only Samhain but all the Wheel of the Year was celebrated by the Temple, although the documentary focuses more on the Samhain ritual) have to be done with love. There wouldn’t be any other way. Again, the commitment , passion and love for the Craft was and still is what moved Gypsy and Richard all these years. I would also add generosity to list of words, since it was out of generosity that Gypsy and Richard gave all of this to Salem. Every year, on Samhain night, they took us up to the Hill to remember all of those who passed the Veil, including those who died in 1692. As Richard say in the documentary, we claimed the unclaimed, we took and remember those who in 1692 no one took, those who are buried without markers. Gypsy and Richard teach us about love. That is truly what they teach us about.

Finally, could you share a little bit about the making of this film? What’s gone into it? How long has it taken you? What were the challenges of doing this documentary?

The documentary was completely filmed with a Sony Bloggie, hand-held, without a camera stand. It is a very real documentary. I follow the making and all the preparations for the ritual in Gallows Hill, including meetings and decision making. I covered the walk up to Gallows Hill and the silent candle light walk back to the Salem witch memorial, escorted by the wonderful policemen who every year are there to make sure we are safe. We can see the ritual in Gallows Hill, the beautiful music and dance up in the Hill, and intimate conversations with Gypsy and Richard about how did it all begin. It is a journey through the history/story of Salem, the Temple of Nine Wells and Gypsy and Richard’s life and contributions for more than 20 years for the Salem community.

I started to collect footage for the documentary in 2011, so it took me almost two years to complete this project. I do have a good excuse since I am the director, cinematographer, producer with Jimahl di Fiosa and RedBird Productions. It is a very modest project but one that took great pleasure to make. The challenges were of course many, but when you are doing a documentary where the love, commitment and dedication is contagious, you will thrive on that to overcome any of the challenges.

Oh, and now that we have the trailer, when can we expect to see the whole film, and how will it be released?

The documentary will be released soon in Salem to the public and we are looking at some of the venues here to do that. We do not have a date yet but will be between June and July. We will have of course a private viewing of the documentary at Nu Aeon here in Salem for the members of the Temple of Nine Wells. Right after the release in Salem to the public, we will host a world premiere through a Hangout on Google+ with the presence of Gypsy and a selected number of guests and representatives of the various communities all over the world.

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For updates on “With Love From Salem,” see the film’s official Facebook page. I’d like to thank Karagan Griffith for taking the time to answer some of my questions, and I look forward to the film’s premiere. The Wild Hunt will keep you posted once further details are announced.

Pagan Community Notes is a series focused on news originating from within the Pagan community. Reinforcing the idea that what happens to and within our organizations, groups, and events is news, and news-worthy. My hope is that more individuals, especially those working within Pagan organizations, get into the habit of sharing their news with the world. So let’s get started!

Chas Clifton reports that Dr. Sabina Magliocco, Professor of Anthropology at California State University, Northridge, and author of “Witching Culture: Folklore and Neo-Paganism in America” is launching a new research project on individual’s spiritual relationship with animals. Quote: “The purpose of this study is to understand how we imagine our relationship to animals, how we incorporate animals into our spiritual or religious beliefs, and how this may motivate our actions in the everyday world.” You can take the survey, here. At the survey page Magliocco elaborates on benefits of the study: “This research could shed light on how people come to imagine themselves as part of an interconnected community that includes domestic and wild animals, and develop feelings that lead them to want to protect, defend and care for both domestic and wild animals. It may also reveal areas in which individuals diverge from the theological teachings of their religion as a result of their personal experiences with animals. Findings could be useful in developing educational programs for children and young people that foster sustainability.” Again, the survey link.

The Pagan History Project (PHP) initiated with a soft launch this week on Facebook, with a full website to follow soon. An oral history project created to “collect, store, share and preserve the history of the American Pagan Movement,” co-founder Murtagh AnDoile said the scope of the project would be broad. Quote: “We are using “Pagan” in its broadest sense, encompassing: Witchcraft , Traditional and other, Wicca, Heathenry, Druidry, various Reconstructionisms, Magical Lodges, etc. All the groups and traditions and paths that make up the American Occult/Magical/Pagan movement from the early days ( the 1930s, 40’s 50’s…) to present. We are focusing on everything and everyone pre-1995 at this time, due to our aging population.” Initial interviews have already been conducted, and an informational packet instructing those interested on how to participate in their local communities and festivals will be released soon. Wild Hunt staffer Rynn Fox has been following the development of this project, and will be filing a report soon.

PNC-Minnesota has posted the first part of a lengthy interview with Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone, authors of “Progressive Witchcraft,” and longtime elders within the Pagan community. Quote: “We used the term Progressive Witchcraft at one point to describe the evolutionary process at work. But we found people started saying, “Oh, Progressive Witchcraft, that’s a tradition. ” No, it’s not. No, it’s not. It’s a description of your philosophy and how you work in Witchcraft. So now what we teach with everybody who comes to us is, we teach them… We feel training is very important. The training is important because the training helps to teach our students how to make the connection.”

Raven Radio, a Heathen talk-radio program, has an interesting show up that looks inside the world of Asatru within prison, and the hurdles involved in following that faith while incarcerated. Quote: “This week we have a lengthy conversation with “Jimmy Dean”, a man who found heathenry while doing time. He enlightens us a great deal about what it means to be incarcerated, how one can practice heathenry, avoiding certain undesirable groups like the neo-nazis, etc.”

Temple of Witchcraft at Boston Pride.

I love seeing pictures of Pagan organizations marching in LGBTQ Pride parades, so be sure to check out the Temple of Witchcraft’s Facebook page, where they’ve posted several photos of their involvement with the Boston Pride Parade. Quote from ToW co-founder Steve Kenson: “Thank you to all who came out to march and represent for the pagans in Saturday’s Boston GLBT Pride parade and to those who cheered us on! The gods rewarded us with a clear and warm day after a grey and wet morning. Many thanks and blessings!”

Also at Patheos, the Pagan Families blog interviews Tara “Masery” Miller about the process of “adopting while Pagan.” Quote: “The Missouri Family and Children’s Services, a government agency, intention to adopt form illegally asked what our religion was. Just as I suspected. I was aware it was illegal because my atheist friend had sent me plenty of references on religion and adoption. Well, instead of blatantly saying I’m Pagan and my husband’s a mage, I said we are spiritual and I belong to the Unitarian Universalist Church! And sometimes we attend a Methodist Church. Which is true. My mother is a lay minister!” That quote is from part two of the interview, here.

The Summer Solstice is coming up, and Llewellyn is holding a Twitter party to celebrate! Quote: “The beginning of June marks shorts days, grill days, and summer hours for our luckly Llewellyn employees–but it’s not very fair that you don’t get to participate, is it? So we want you to join us in a summer celebration! We are hosting our second annual Solstice Twitter party! […] Use the hashtag #moonchat in your party tweets. We’ll tweet the questions, you’ll tweet the answers, and we’ll chat!” There are going to be prize giveaways for participants, so if you’re stuck in an office that day, why not?

In a final note for all our Trad-Wiccan friends out there (and you know who you are), June 13th is Geraldmas! The celebration of Gerald Gardner, the father of modern religious Witchcraft (born June 13th, 1884). I think it’s a great idea to have a day where BTW groups do a day of outreach and socializing. Are you having a Geraldmas celebration in your area this year?

There are lots of articles and essays of interest to modern Pagans out there, sometimes more than I can write about in-depth in any given week. So The Wild Hunt must unleash the hounds in order to round them all up.

God is all-powerful and all-knowing, but did you know that by simply hoarding rose quartz or buying a lucky cat statue you can instantly block him? It’s true according to Fr. Jose Francisco Syquia: “When paganism and the occult contaminate the faith, the relationship with God is blocked and we can end up saying to ourselves that God is not interested in us, personally and as a nation [not knowing that] His blessings and protection… would not be able to fully enter into our lives.” So remember, God’s blessing, kinda easy to block (darn free will).

The Nigerian state of Akwa Ibom has made it illegal to accuse a child of witchcraft,though activists point out that Christian churches will also have to be reigned in if real changes are to be made in this problem. Quote: “But some say churches in the impoverished state where unemployment is rampant, must also be reigned in. Some activists cite the churches as the source of the belief that children are sorcerers or witches.” For more on this problem, visit Stepping Stones Nigeria, an organization that is fighting against the branding of children as witches.

Meanwhile, four women were arrested for practicing witchcraft in the United Arab Emirates. According to a news report they were caught in the midst of practicing sorcery, and that “a large number of substances and herbs including detergents and bodily fluids” were confiscated. Quote: “Colonel Salem Sultan Al Darmaki, Director of the Criminal Investigation Department at Ras Al Khaimah police, said that the case details date back to when they received information from an Arab lady reporting that four women were practicing sorcery from their flat.” Lucky for them the UAE doesn’t kill women for sorcery like Saudi Arabia does, but it still presents a chilling portrait of what fundamentalism run amuck looks like.

Amy Wilentz, author of the forthcoming “Farewell, Fred Voodoo,” gives some perspective on zombies in the New York Times. Quote: “There are many reasons the zombie, sprung from the colonial slave economy, is returning now to haunt us. Of course, the zombie is scary in a primordial way, but in a modern way, too. He’s the living dead, but he’s also the inanimate animated, the robot of industrial dystopias. He’s great for fascism: one recent zombie movie (and there have been many) was called “The Fourth Reich.” The zombie is devoid of consciousness and therefore unable to critique the system that has entrapped him. He’s labor without grievance. He works free and never goes on strike. You don’t have to feed him much. He’s a Foxconn worker in China; a maquiladora seamstress in Guatemala; a citizen of North Korea; he’s the man, surely in the throes of psychosis and under the thrall of extreme poverty, who, years ago, during an interview, told me he believed he had once been a zombie himself.” This is a seriously great read – don’t miss it.

Science thinks we all might be a little bit psychic, albeit not in the bending spoons, having visions, sense. Quote: “What the studies measured was physiological activity—e.g., heart rate or skin conductance—in participants who, for instance, might have been shown a series of images, some harmless and others frightening. Using computer programs and statistical techniques, experimenters have found that, even before being shown a troubling image, participants sometimes display physiological changes —a faster heart rate, for example—of the kind that would be expected only after seeing the image, and not just because the subjects know a scary snake picture is coming sooner or later.”

Samhain at the joint Lackland military base: “Cammen is among a curious multiplication of Wiccans at Lackland. Hundreds of basic military trainees have chosen to study witchcraft at the base. “When we come over here on a Sunday, often times, there are 300 to 400 (trainees),” Tony Gatlin said.”

Texas schools love Jesus, and litigation. Imagine how the handful of non-Christian students feel when Christian prayers are blasted throughout the school on their speaker system. Do you think they feel empowered to share their own faith, or are they instead pushed deeper into the “broom closet”? This is why a strong separation of church and state is necessary.

That’s it for now! Feel free to discuss any of these links in the comments, some of them I may expand into longer posts as needed.

“Richard wrote and lead open circles for each of the Eight Sabbats of the Witches Wheel for over 20 years. He was the High Priest of the Coven of Akhelarre, and served as the Grand Master of his Kentish Witchcraft Line in America, training and initiating suitable students and chartering covens of the Wicca.”

A true magickal polymath, Ravish was an active Freemason, Rosicrucian, and Hermetic Initiate, in addition to his Witchcraft and Thelemic leadership roles. He was a strong advocate for Pagan Rights, lending aid in several Lady Liberty League endeavors.

“Remembering & Honoring Richard, his life, his friendship, his magic, his service, his legacy. Support to Gypsy & all his friends, family, & supporters. May all of us who mourn his passing take comfort in our memories of Richard & take solace in knowing that his magical sacred spirit continues to be in this world & the New Aeon through his good works & the many lives & organizations he blessed. Hail & Farewell to your life now passed, Richard & blessings on your journeys in the Ancestral realm.” – Selena Fox, Circle Sanctuary

“The highest are of us. Wednesday, September 19, 2012 e.v. Starr King Masonic Lodge, at 70 Washington Street in Salem with whom Richard shared his spiritual light as Chaplain for 25 years, will host his final rites. All friends of the Ravish family are invited to an open casket final Blessed Be commencing at 11 am and ending at 1:30 pm followed by a Rite of Passage and Masonic tribute. At 4 pm a blessing will take place at Greenlawn Cemetary with an interment at 4:18 pm. The Ravish family and friends will host a reception at Masonic Hall after the burial as a celebration of Richard’s. Please contact Murphy Funeral Home 978-744-0497 (www.murphyfuneralhome.com) for further details.”